Hi.
So, about these questions of importing .csv data into Calc…
I know this has been a recurring question, but just can’t figure out how one does it.
Say I create/receive/download a monthly bank statement in a .csv format and want to append it on a Calc Sheet.
Calc’s columns format are already set from the first import. Or Calc may ask for then on every insert. No questions about here.
1st row are the titles:
Date, Description,Value, < may be a Balance field here >
How to do it?
Thanks in advance.
Save this to some text file:
Datum;Name;Verwendungszweck;Auftragsart;Betrag (EUR);Saldo (EUR)
08.01.2026;xxxxxxxxxx xxxx&xxxx;"xx 20597 xx 20260034";xxxx xxxxxxx;"-143,22";"1.892,77"
05.01.2026;xxxx xxxxx;xxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxx;xxxxxxxxxx;"460,00";"2.035,99"
02.01.2026;xxxxxxx xxxxx;xxxxx;xxxxxxxxxx;"380,00";"1.575,99"
02.01.2026;xxxxxxx xxxxx;xxxxxxxxxxx;xxxxxxxxxx;"250,00";"1.195,99"
02.01.2026;xxxxxxxx xxxxxx;xxxxx;xxxxxxxxxx;"555,00";"945,99"
02.01.2026;xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx;xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx.7x;xxxxxxxxxx;"655,00";"390,99"
02.01.2026;xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xx;"xxxxxxx xx-1802356494 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx. 7 x, 32107 xxx xx 01.01.26 - 31.12.26";xxxx xxxxxxx;"-2.497,30";"-264,01"
Open with LibreOffice Calc.
- Locale: German(Germany)
- Encoding: UTF-8 should be fine.
- Column separator: Semicolon
- Text delimiter: "
- Detect special numbers: Yes (always)
- Quoted fields as text: No
Turn on menu:View>Highlight Values [ctrl+f8]
The import was successful if the first column’s dates and the last columns’ numbers are highlighted in blue.
Sure, but now how to insert the “december statement”?
Statements.ods (15.1 KB)
REM: unable to upload Stmt202512.csv
Same of “november”
[date = +1 month] [valor = valor + 1.00]
- Your existing data have been imported wrongly. The dates are text values, possibly due to wrong default value for “Detect special numbers”. Turn it on. The correction will be remembered.
- Tools>Options>Calc>General: “Expand references” is off by default. This is also wrong. Turn it on. This correction is sticky as well.
- After importing new data, I would copy the new data below the header row, select A12 (next empty cell below existing data) paste-special values with option “Insert rows”. This way all references from formulas, charts, pivot tables, names, database ranges, … will update to the new dimension of the data range. For instance, =SUM(C2:C11) automatically expands to SUM(C2:C23) after you imported 12 new rows.
One thing you should never do: Import each month onto a separate sheet. This is always a mistake.
My doubt is not about format. It’s how now I append “next month” to the sheet (?)
Of course I want to append.
Format can be Text. That’s not question here.
This is my question.
Calc can not insert new records into existing record sets like a database would do. You get close if you import correct data (with numeric dates, without header row), copy the data and paste-special with row insertion.
So no “native” – without writing scripts of course – way to append data?
This is my doubt 
Collecting database data on spreadsheets is pointless if your references do not update. You append 12 new rows of data to your list and all formulas, charts etc. still refer to A2:A11. This becomes a maintenance hell as you add more data, more evaluation and more charts.
The macro I suggested does the following:
- Open a file in the specified directory.
- Determine the row count on the specified sheet minus any specified header rows.
- Turn on “Expand references…” if it was turned off.
- Insert the necessary rows below the current region around a named cell “Target”.
- Write data into the inserted range.
- Open the next file, if any.
- Turn off "Expand references… " if it was off when calling the macro.
You don’t need that macro for mass import if you follow the above simple steps, namely paste-special with option “insert rows” and global option “expand references…”
IMHO, Calc can not do that. Excel has a database tool named “Power Query”.